Prawn curry with Kodumpuli and coconut milk

I usually fry breaded prawns as an appetizer for sit down lunches and dinners but this time I cooked them in a curry with coconut milk.

The prawns or shrimps were cleaned and washed with the shells remaining just around the tail end. These were then marinated for an hour time and then cooked with traditional Kerala kodumpuli. Kodumpuli is a sun dried and smoked fruit that helps to add sourness to a dish and typically leaves it's strong, unique and tasteful flavour. This is very traditional to Kerala and rarely used outside the region. And then again, it is usually used only with fish or shrimp curry. We get our annual stock when we go back home each year as it grows in the backyard of my sister in law's home.  I like to cook this dish in  a clay pot as the various flavours blend well bringing out the aroma of all the spices. This dish is best served with hot steamed rice.

Ingredients

Large prawns or shrimp 500 grams

onion - 1 slices in long pieces

green chili - 4 cut in long slits

ginger and garlic - julienned 1 tbsp each

curry leaves - a few

Shallots - 2 

coconut milk - 100 ml

chili powder - 1 tsp

turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

coriander powder= 1/2 tsp

Kodumpuli - 5-6 pieces washed 

Salt - 1/2 tsp or add more 

Oil - 2 tbsp

Water - 1 cup( 200 ml)

Marinate the washed and cleaned prawns with the chili, turmeric, coriander powder ,one tbsp oil and salt in a clay pot or a large pan. After standing this for a half an hour 's time, add to this the curry leaves, onions, ginger, green chili, garlic and green chili. Mix and keep aside. In another pan, bring to a boil the Kodumpuli with the water. Pour this into the prawns and place the clay pot/pan on the stove on medium heat. The prawn will turn pink on cooking for 10 -15 minutes. Add the coconut milk and turn off the stove. Heat oil in another pan, fry shallots and curry leaves in 1 tbsp of oil and season the prawn dish with this. Serve with steamed rice.

Enjoy!

Pepper chicken

I love this dish as it so simple to make and it goes so well with rice, chapati and even bread. In fact , it tastes better the next day. I often make this in a large batch and freeze it in small containers. It can be made as a dry preparation or a gravy type depending on how you would like it best. I prefer the dry version. This may be served as an appetiser too.

Ingredients

Chicken - 500 grams
Onions - 3 medium sized
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves- a few
Ground pepper - 1 tsp or more if needed
Lemon juice- 2 tbsp
Garam masala /Meat masala- 1 tsp
Light soy sauce - 1 tsp
Ketchup - 1tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp +1 tbsp
Shallots - 2-3
Coriander- a sprig for seasoning
Salt - 1/4 tsp or more if needed

Marinate the skinless chicken that has been cut into small pieces with pepper, lemon juice and salt. Let it stand for half an hour. Meanwhile, saute the finely sliced onion, ginger and garlic in 2 tbsp of oil. Add to it , the garam masala and stir for a minutes time. Then add the soy sauce and ketchup. Add the marinated chicken to this and stir in high heat. Once all the masala is spread evenly on the chicken pieces and the chicken begins leaving liquid, then cover and cook on slow heat for 5 - 10 minutes.  Open the lid and cook for another 5 -10 minutes till chicken is done.
In a frying pan, heat the 1 tbsp of oil and fry the sliced shallots and a few curry leaves. Add the cooked chicken to this and stir till all the liquid in the curry evaporates well. Sprinkle with coriander leaves. The dish is ready to be served.
Enjoy!

Notes
I prepare my own garam masala for all meat preparations. I usually prepare it in a large batch and bottle it in advance. Perhaps for another blog entry, I will write out a detailed recipe for that. Store bought garam masala is also fine.
I usually prepare this dish with chicken breast meat as it fleshy and contains the least amount of fat.

Tuna Cutlet- Kerala style

With Christmas and Easter festivity menu, cutlet usually plays an important role. It is always on the menu and served as an appetiser with sarlas (traditional Kerala red onion salad)

Cutlets are shaped into patties with either minced fish, chicken, lamb or beef mixed with mashed potatoes and spiced with onions, green chili, ginger, garlic, salt, egg yolk and garam masala. The cutlet patties are then  fried in oil after they have been dipped in egg white and dried bread flakes.

For Christmas lunch, I made tuna cutlet. They came out well and was appreciated by everyone around. As I used tinned tuna flakes, they were relatively simple to make. I love eating cutlets but really don't enjoy making them for lunches and dinners with invited guests as it takes a lot of preparation time relative to the preparation of other dishes. But then Christmas lunch wouldn't have been a Christmas lunch without cutlets, so tuna cutlets got it's call.

Ingredients

Tuna flakes in olive oil - 1 tin around 200 grams

Potatoes  - 2 large ones

Onion - 1 medium sized

Green chili - 2 small diced 

Egg - 1 medium sized

Garam masala /Meat masala- 1/2 teaspoon

Ginger - garlic paste - 1 tablespoon

Coriander leaves -  a sprig 

Bread flakes - 100 grams

Oil - 1 tablespoon and additional for frying

Salt to taste

Drain out the oil from the tin of tuna, mash the tuna in a large bowl so that there are only tiny flakes of it . Add to it the boiled and mashed potatoes. In a frying pan add oil and sauté the sliced onions and ginger garlic paste. Add this to the bowl with the tuna and potatoes. Add to it salt, garam masala, sliced coriander leaves and egg yolk. Mix all the ingredients well and shape into cutlet patties. Freeze then for half an hour and then fry them in oil after dipping the cutlet patty in the egg white and bread flakes.

Serve them hot with sarlas (red onion salad ) or just with tomato ketchup.

Enjoy!

Notes

I use canola oil as it has zero cholesterol, any kind of oil should be fine. I also prefer Russel potato as they can be mashed very well. in fact they are excellent for mashed potatoes. More egg white may be used for frying if needed. As I like to use minimum oil, after draining the oil from the tinned tuna , I place it on kitchen roll to let the extra oil be absorbed. If I am making cutlets for just the family, I would shallow fry the cutlets. 

Sarlas (Red onion salad)

Sarlas or red onion salad is one of the easiest and tastiest salad to prepare. It's a traditional Kerala salad and can be made in a few minutes time. It makes a perfect accompaniment with fried cutlets, fish or fried rice. Sarlas is a combination of finely chopped red onions, green chili and curry leaves mixed in lemon juice or vinegar and coconut milk. Salt is then added to taste.

                                  

I have prepared lots of it as I had couple of people coming over for lunch, however the recipe given below is for 4 people.

Onions - 2 medium sized
Green chili - 1
Curry leaves - 7-8 leaves
Coconut milk - 2 tablespoons
Vinegar - I table spoon
Salt to taste - 1/8 teaspoon or a pinch should be enough

The red onions need to be chopped lengthwise into thin slices. The green chili needs to be diced into very fine pieces, so that no one really should be able to feel the heat from it. The curry leaves may be added as whole leaves. These are excellent to combat cholesterol , so one should always eat them. However, many people like the flavour and never really like to eat the curry leaves. Once all the ingredients have been prepared, mix the onions, green chili , curry leaves and vinegar in a bowl. Rub in the vinegar onto the onions for around a few minutes. You will notice the onions turning into a soft pink colour. Add the coconut milk and salt to taste. The dish is ready to be served.

It's Christmas time !

I feel happy to have my first blog post starting off with bakingNcooking that took place over Christmas time. It's a season of fun and festivities and a great time to spend with friends and family. Now that can't be possible with out food. So here's what I cooked for our Christmas lunch. We had friends coming over who were vegetarians and non vegetarians, so the Christmas menu was a little different from the traditional Kerala Christmas lunch.

                          

Over the next few days I will be posting all the recipes for these dishes as well for the traditional Kerala plum cake that I baked a few days before Christmas. It's the yummy looking cake on the blog header.